Congress to stage nationwide protest on Rs 1,800 Income Tax notice tomorrow

New Delhi: Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Ajay Maken during a press conference, in New Delhi, Friday, March 29, 2024. (Photo: PTI)

The Congress party is set to stage a nationwide protest against a notice from the Income Tax (I-T) department, asking it to pay over Rs 1,800 crore.

“Eight years of Income Tax returns of the Indian National Congress [INC] have been reopened on baseless, manufactured grounds to levy patently illegal Income Tax demand orders totaling thousands of crores of rupees. This is nothing but a blatant and naked attack on the very principle of democracy,” wrote the Congress in an official statement.

Earlier in the day, the Income Tax department served a fresh notice of Rs 1,823 crore to the Congress for discrepancies in tax returns for previous years, dealing a blow to the cash-strapped party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The tax penalties, along with interest, relate to discrepancies in tax returns for the years 2017-18 to 2020-21.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, General Secretary Jairam Ramesh accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “indulging in tax terrorism”. Through the “electoral bonds scam,” Ramesh said the “BJP has collected Rs 8,200 crore and used the route of “pre-paid, post-paid, post-raid bribes and shell companies.”

“The Congress has received a demand of Rs 1,823 crore from the Income Tax department. They have raised a demand of Rs 53 crore alone from 1993-94 when Sitaram Kesri was the president,” party treasurer Ajay Maken said. He further alleged that the BJP is in serious violation of Income Tax laws and said the I-T department should raise a demand of more than Rs 4,600 crore from the saffron party for such violations.

“Going by the fines that the Income Tax department for so-called violations, the BJP should then pay a penalty of Rs 4,600 crore,” he said, adding that the Congress party will move the Supreme Court early next week.

The Congress is already facing a funds crunch after Income Tax authorities imposed a penalty of Rs 210 crore and froze its funds. The party has not received any relief from the High Court in the case and is likely to move the Supreme Court.